Not just faeces in the crowd

It's a delicate issue in any area, but in the City of Port Phillip, it's an all-out war.

For nearly five years the local council has campaigned to reduce the sight - and smell - of dog poo on the city's beaches, pathways and parks.

It has tried giving reward money to council contractors for every piece of poo collected. It has tried DNA-testing the stuff as a means of finding, and fining, dog owners.

And it has even released poo-eating dung beetles around the Port Phillip foreshore in a bid to munch the problem away.");document.write("

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But now, it is time to get serious.

In the latest phase of the council's dog poo fight, residents will be forced to carry bags with them whenever they walk a dog in the area. Those who don't could be fined up to $100.

Port Phillip Mayor Darren Ray said the new bylaw - to be introduced by March - was part of a push to shift the poo cleaning responsibility on to pet owners.

Under the plan, the city's 48 dispenser stands - with free paper bags for local dog walkers to pick up after their pets - will be removed.

Cr Ray said the dispensers simply had not proven effective in curbing the problem. The paper bags often got soaked in the rain, council animal officers sometimes could not refill them in time because they had to attend to other duties and pet owners would often take multiple bags, leaving none for other dog-walkers.

However, he insisted that enforcing the new bag-carrying bylaw would not be onerous for residents.

"We are not going to authorise officers to don battle fatigues and go out and harass every dog owner who happens to be walking the streets and ask them to empty their pockets," Cr Ray said.

Rather, enforcement would depend largely on "the act of pooing" itself, he said.

"One never knows when a dog is going to poo, so in many cases, the way the law will be enforced will be guided by the act of the pooing - if the dog does a poo and is seen by one of our animal officers and the owner doesn't do anything about it . . . that's when they will be given an opportunity to declare whether they're carrying a bag or not," Cr Ray said.

He said the bylaw would also free up time for the council's animal control officers to patrol more "doggy hot spots".

But some residents do not want the dispensers removed.

St Kilda resident and dog-owner Rosie Tovey said the dispensers had been successful, and were a strong reminder for dog owners to clean up after their pets.

"Most people around this area do the right thing most of the time," Ms Tovey said. "It will be a shame to see them go."

Kieron McDermott, a spokesman for local dog-walking group Alma Dogs, also said the dispensers worked well, despite the council sometimes being "too slow" to refill them.